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Opinion by Nina Renshaw - T&E deputy director
There aren’t many downsides to working at T&E, but if I have to name one, it is that we don’t often have the joy of seeing the fruits of our work in the real world. Mostly you don’t see less energy use or fewer emissions, and you see even fewer economic incentives at work when walking around town. So 1 November will be a rare moment.

The idea that making cars cleaner would be bad for jobs and competitiveness is a myth. That is the conclusion from a report launched by T&E that looks into the economic consequences for carmakers to meet strict carbon dioxide emissions limits from 2020 and beyond. T&E says it strengthens the argument for an 80g/km target for 2020 and a 60g target for 2025.

The Commission has issued a transport and technology communication which calls on governments to ‘break away from conventional thinking’ in an attempt to boost new forms of transport energy to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

An attempt to find a compromise on updating noise limits for vehicles has been postponed after it became clear the draft text put forward in the European Parliament had been written by Porsche. The amendment would have weakened existing standards that have been in force for 15 years.

The Obama administration has finalised new rules to improve fuel economy for American car makers. They are expected to transform US cars and light trucks and lead to the widespread adoption of hybrid vehicles by 2025. The move threatens to leave Europe’s car industry at a competitive disadvantage unless stricter CO2 emissions targets are agreed for 2020 and beyond.

A total of 30 car models on the German market have CO2 emissions below 95g, the proposed maximum for 2020. That is one of the findings of the 2012 car-environment ranking produced by T&E’s German member VCD.

The European Commission has published proposals that will confirm carbon dioxide limits for new cars and vans for the year 2020 in a review of existing laws. The proposed legislation, released on 11 July, indicates that the average new car should emit no more than 95 grams of CO2 per kilometre, and the average new van 147 g/km by 2020. T&E has welcomed the proposals but says a lot more could have been achieved if the Commission had shown more ambition, for example by setting a target of 80g for 2020 and 60g for 2025.

Opinion by Dudley Curtis - T&E Communications Manager Dudley Curtis leaves T&E in August after eight years as communications manager. Here he reflects on how the campaign to force car makers to stick to a maximum average level of carbon dioxide emissions has evolved, and what this says about the chances of further environmental progress.